The Reunion and the Loss
by ronnie lores
Summary: [AU, Angel lives] With Mimi missing without a trace, Roger returns home from Santa Fe, after an urgent call from Mark... only to find Angel is sick.
1. Chapter 1

"The Reunion and the Loss" Written by: Ronnie Lores (proofread by dreamt in vertigo)  
Rating: T Disclaimer: I do not own anything dealing with RENT; they belong to the late, great Jonathon Larson.  
Warning: character death, but nothing different from the play/movie. 

1. Coming Home (Mark and Angel)

"Roger, hi… it's Mark. Look, I know you're screening my call right now. Pick up! Fine, look, just come home. I mean, we still haven't heard from Mimi, and I don't know what could be going on in Santa Fe, but I know it can't be anymore important than us. We need you here. Please come home…" My message to Roger sounded pathetic, even to me. Why couldn't he just see we needed him? I needed him?

"No luck, sweetie?" asked Angel.

"No," I said. "I thought he loved Mimi."

"I do, "choked a voice from the other side of the room- Roger's.

"Mark!" Roger cried as he spread his arms into the widest hug that he could give me.

"I thought you'd never come home," I said fighting back my tears.

"Well, I did," he said. "Hello, Thomas," Roger said taking Collins into his arms. "Angel, my dear, so good to see you. How are you doing?" Roger asked Angel.

"Fine," she replied as she jumped from the floor to the couch.

"Have you guys heard from Mimi?" he pleaded, sounding almost scared. Maybe he was more scared for her than I thought.

"No, man," Collins answered.

"My God! Where is she?" Roger said, worried. "I thought she was doing well. Didn't she stop using? I mean, she was in rehab-."

"She dropped out," I said. "She couldn't take it anymore."

"Well enough of this! Let's go people," Angel said snapping her fingers.

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As we strolled around Tompkins Square Park, my stomached lurched and I felt a ball in my throat. "Angel, what if we never find her?" I asked, confessing my true feelings.

"Oh, honey, don't worry we _will_ find her. I promise," she consoled my feelings to a minimum.

"Angel, how are you feeling? Are you doing alright?" I asked her, slowly changing the subject for fear of breaking down.

"Oh, I'm doing ok…I've had better days but honestly, hon, this is the best I've felt in a while- I mean, a really long time," she replied, sounding so scared.

"Have you been to the doc-,"she cut me off with a wave of her hand.

"Babe, let's not talk about this now. I have other things on my mind." I could tell she was choking on every emotion she had.

"Okay, you can talk to Collins." I really was kind of hurt. "Well, what should we do now?" I asked my concern showing in every word.

"I vote you go back to the loft and wait to see what happens. I have to get Collins; we have Life Support to go to. Are you coming tonight?" Angel seemed almost ecstatic at the fact of attending Life Support.


	2. I Should Tell you

2. I Should Tell You (Angel and Collins)

"Come on, honey! We have to go," I shouted up at Collins when Mark and I returned to the loft.

"Yeah, I'm coming," he replied, looking like he had been crying.

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The walk to Life Support was awkward, at best. I kept having this feeling that Collins wanted to talk about something. On the way home, something in his eyes told me I was going to find out whether I wanted to or not.

"Hey, Angel-love, can we talk?" Collins had more fear in his voice than I have ever heard.

"Sure, baby, but what about?"

"Well you haven't been to the doctor in a while and I real-." I cut him off with a wave of my hand. I knew what he was going to say.

"Collins, you know the doctors told me not to go back unless I felt awful, or any different than before."

"Well, yeah, but I think you should go a-." Another wave of my hand.

"I _don't _want to talk about it!" I felt bad for shouting at him but, physically, I felt fine- well better than I had in the past few weeks anyway. The next week something happened to me that made me want to go to the hospital without Collins, and I didn't want him to know.

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"Miss… ter Schunard, I have some unfortunate news to tell you," the doctor in the clinic announced to me as he walked into the waiting area.

"Dr. Vasquez, spare me the pleasantries and tell me the news…and miss is fine." The tan-skinned doctor lowered himself in to a chair beside me and put

his hand around my shoulder.

"Angel, I'm afraid to tell you that in your blood work, your T-cells were quite low." He sighed a deep, mournful sigh. I knew what was coming next. " I'm asking that you be admitted into the intensive care unit of the hospital… for observation."

"ICU? No."

"Miss Schunard, this is for the best, you realize that, don't you? We

need to make sure you're alright."

"I don't care, Doctor." I attempted to get up from the chair I had

been sitting in, but his arm restrained me. "I would like you to remove your arm now, or you will want to call me mister," I spat, my voice lowering a near octave.

He smiled ruefully and lifted his arm, but not before saying "If you change your mind, our doors are always open."


	3. Chapter 3

3. You'll be My Queen, and I'll Be Your Moat (Collins)

Mark and Roger's phone started to ring. Ring. We screen, we Bohemians, and I was not about to break tradition. Ring. Ring. Ring. I waited for the answering machine to pick up. Ring. "Pick up, damn it," I said to myself. Finally, it kicked in.

"Speeeaaak!" their voices screamed through the tape. Beep.

"Hello," he sounded almost shocked at Roger and Mark's message. "My name is Raoul Vasquez, and I'm calling from the hospital in regards to Miss Schunard's visit," he messenger on the other end announced. At the sound of Angel's name, I got up from the couch and ran to answer the phone.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Hello is this mister Collins?" the man inquired.

"Yeah it is; who are you?"

"My name is Doctor Raoul Vasquez, and if I remember correctly, you are Angel's, Angel's-," he struggled for the word.

"Lover?"

"Yes, Lover. Um, she came by the hospital and-."

"She actually went?"

"She did, Mr. Collins; I do have a bit of unfortunate news for you, assuming that she hasn't told you."

"Angel ain't told me nothing, doctor."

"I was afraid so; we ran blood work on her and… her T-cells were dangerously low. We asked that she be admitted into ICU, but she declined and rushed out." _Low T-cells? Angel? ICU? That can't be possible_, I thought. She was feeling _fine_ this morning. "Please, Mr. Collins, I would greatly appreciate it if you would speak to her, and convince her that being admitted is what's best for her. If she even catches the slightest cold, she will die." I threw the phone across the room, shattering it to pieces. "God damn it Angel!" I screamed into the freezing loft.

"Collins? Is that you?" Mark called into the kitchen. He kept walking into the room, and I tried my best to compose myself, but it was hard considering I was on the ground sobbing into my hands. He must have seen the phone on the floor, because he commented, "Well I guess we can't make any calls. I guess Joanne can buy us another phone." He laughed his old soft loving laugh. "What's wrong Collins?"

"Oh, nothing, man. I'm fine" I sucked up my sobs and headed out the

door of the loft. "I'll see you later, boy."

"Yeah, I'll see you later," he replied softly in his normal tone.


	4. Barstools and Boyfriends

**A/N** : Okay— so it's been a while since I've posted, and I'm sorry, but the story remains the same.

I forgot to mention if I owned RENT … I would have mucho mulah.

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**Chapter Four**- Barstools and Boyfriends

As I sat in the rundown bar on Avenue B, who should walk in but Benjamin Coffin III. He was apparently Mimi's flavor of the week.

"Roger, hi," he greeted. Why did he sound so nervous?

"Hello Benjamin." He didn't deserve to be called Benny, and I hope I heard how pissed off I was at him.

"Where'd you go? Back to Rehab?"

"What do you want, Benjamin? I'm doing my best to find Mimi," I snapped, _and_ _I am going to find her whether you like it or not_, I finished silently.

"We broke up." Broke up? Wow, shocker.

"Broke up…why?" I wasn't consoling him… just pumping him for information.

"Well, we didn't break it off _officially_. She ran away and dropped out of rehab so…" He actually sounded angry that they broke up. "Have you heard from her at all?" I knew he could tell that I still loved her.

"No, Benjamin. That is why I am trying to find her," I said getting more pissed off.

"Roger, sitting in a bar drowning your sorrows isn't going to finding her." Damn him! Why did he have to be so right!

"I don't see you doing anything to find her, Benjamin." I tried to get out of my seat, my anger seething.

"She loves you, Ro-," I cut him off.

"Benny, I'm doing my best to find her."

With that, I went out for a cigarette… damn him.


End file.
